Whilst pondering the email from the Telegraph employee that was published this week by Roy Greenslade (give me another day and I might have a respond to it!), a few questions came up.

I haven’t built on them, but I thought I’d list them here to get them temporarily out of the way whilst the other blog post is percolating in my head.

At any newspaper I’ve ever had experience at, one of the daily chores is to read through all the other newspapers published that day to check for good stories to follow up on. If you are a regional paper this means looking out for stories in your region and if you are on a national it’s looking for good follow-ups broken by the regionals.

If someone finds a good story they’ll put in a few calls and see if they can confirm or develop it for their publication the next day.

Isn’t this the aggregation we talk about - putting the best of what’s out there onto our own site? How does this differ from scouring blogs for stories? Is it because they are not consider “official” publications and, therefore, more likely to contain false leads or misinformation? If so how are the skewed stories that turn up in the national red-tops better than the skewed stories on a blog?

Also if we fear the media is going to turn into simple speculation and opinion, how do we justify the speculation and opinion that already exists in newspapers? Is it at a satisfactory level now, whereas the inclusion of a few extra blogs on a website might tumble it over the edge? How do we justify the stories that come out of the football transfer season, or the swathes of business and stock market speculation that seem to be produced at the weekend when the markets are closed?

Also, if newspapers are using blogs to try and host some of the conversation about their stories on their site, why is that affecting the original content? Is it the time factor it takes to write a blog? Does it really detract that much time from the act of story-writing?

Sorry, lots of questions, not many answers. That seems to be how things are at the moment.

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One of the truly wonderful and fun things about having your own Wordpress blog is that you get to experiment with all the additional plugins and add-ons that are available for free.

I thought I’d list the ones I am using so far and if anyone has any reccommendations I’d be grateful for them!

So far I have installed:

Askimet - as standard, everyone needs a good spam filter.

All in One SEO Pack - I’m hoping that means Google will pick up less random bits of my blog in searches.

Broken Link Checker - for I had many in the transfer over to joannageary.com.

Google Analyticator - so that I can track my website stats.

Wordpress Database Backup - just in case it all goes wrong.

Wordpress Reports - allows me to see “at-a-glance” Google Analytics and Feedburner stats in my Wordpress dashboard.

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Being online most of my waking hours, I often think of the identity trail I’m leaving around the web and the issues that has in terms of my privacy.

However, I’ve seldom stopped to think how my activities may affect the privacy of my nearest and dearest.

Tonight, as we in the newsroom sought to follow up on reports that named two girls who have been murdered in Ladywood, it was the latter that struck home.

One of the girls had kept her pictures and her profile public to the West Midlands network. Her sister had been more careful, but there was enough there (her profile pic) to identify her in her sibling’s pics. Family and friends were also listed publicly as “friends” in both profiles.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Picture by mousiekm

I’ve officially moved in! My wordpress.com blog should now be forwarding to here, so we’re all good to go.

I’ve still got tweaks to do and content to arrange, but this is my first ever hosted site and I’m feeling rather chuffed!

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It looks like you’ve found my new blog.

I’m working on this as a little project to get to grips with hosting my own site. In the next few days things will probably change, bits will break and fall off.

Please feel free to add your comments/criticisms and yes… I know, it is VERY pink!

j.

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• Webmonkey: the Web Developers Resource
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  "The Politico will partner with several newspapers to deliver political news in exchange for ad placements. The Politico will also sell ads to national advertisers that will be placed in partner newspapers and sites in return for a share of revenue. Early partners include the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Philadelphia Inquirer, Denver Post, and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "
  (tags: business advertising journalism)

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• Oxford Mail investigation exposes "secret police"
  "Among the crimes reported to police but not disclosed were 49 robberies, 41 sexual offences, 310 burglaries and 452 violent incidents.
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  "Trinity Mirror is to close seven local papers and nine satellite offices in north Wales and the north west."
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  "There is, in other words, a clear conflict of interest for a public service broadcaster forced to be either more commercial or to elbow aside commercial competition. But it is simply the BBC confronting reality."
  (tags: bbc newspapers)

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• The LinkedIn Blog: CNBC gets LinkedIn
  This collaboration includes CNBC integrating LinkedIn's community and networking functionality into CNBC.com, enabling users to share and discuss news with their professional networks.
  (tags: social linkedin)

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• BBC attribute Gallagher smackdown clip to service, not user : The (e)Grommet
  "Basically it looks as if they have ripped it, chopped the bit they want and then reposted it to their own site (have a look at a screengrab).
  What they haven’t done is attributed it to BackpackDave08 who actually shot the footage."
  (tags: youtube video)
• Selina stokes a diversity debate that needs addressing | Organgrinder | guardian.co.uk
  "The temptation to hire in one's own image for most managers is as irresistible as it is subliminal - which is why there are a lot of opinionated women working in digital management at the Guardian, and why we all need targets to remind us to look beyond the mirror."
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• Mouthfuls > Journalist Etiquette and Message Boards
  My experience is that if a journalist is doing research on a board they identify themselves and ask if they can contact some of the posters for possible inclusion in the article. I feel it's inappropriate to quote someone without their permission, even if it is a pseudonym. Am I overreacting? Do you think this is violation of board etiquette or journalistic ethics?"
  (tags: journalism forums)
• Ten things journalists can do to reinvent journalism | Howard Owens
  Be a subject-matter expert. You should know your beat better than any of your sources. This will help you avoid he-said, she-said stories, allowing you to write stories with real depth, and give you the confidence to add perspective. You will also uncover more and better stories.
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• Journalism and Fact Checking: Follow the links - Strange Attractor
  "As an internet reader, I’m increasingly suspicious of journalists who don’t link. Yes, if they quote an official that gives me a sense of the source. But why not link to original source material? It also allows me to dig more deeply into the story if I want without having to turn to Google.
  (tags: journalism linking,)
• Yahoo advertising network: relaunched and rebranded |
  "In the UK, digital accounts for about 20% of the total marketing budget, whereas in most of the world it's an afterthought,"
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• What would newspaper beancounters make of the Berliner Philharmoniker? | Editor's Blog | Press Gazette
  "Great journalism, like great art, often isn’t economically viable. But it’s just as important."
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• Paper Cuts
  LAYOFFS AND BUYOUTS AT U.S. NEWSPAPERS: 2008 total: 9,245+ jobs
  A Google Map of all the redundancies in the US. Have we got one for the UK?
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• Lloyd Davis - PHREADZ » someone gets twitter
  The ambient nature of Twitter (via Adam Tinworth)
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• The Great Journalism Job Drought 2008 » Dave Lee / jBlog
  "Here we are, flocking to these sites in search of work in the journalism world. But there isn’t any. Instead, these chancers who know we’re a bunch of wannabe hacks desperate for work, will look at these other non-journo positions, see the salary (40k for that proposal writer), and go ‘oooooh!’ and that’s it. Another potentially good journo lost."
  (tags: newspapers journalism)

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• Dave Lee / jBlog » The best reporting at the US elections, from an unlikely source
  "I found this incredible report. Watch it. To the end. The final few scenes really are gripping stuff."
• Widgetbox › Times Online
  All the online widgets created by Times Online on Widgetbox
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• Get The Times Agenda in Google Calendar - Times Online
  "The busy-looking calendar above contains all* the events from all five calendars published in The Times Agenda over the last week: World Affairs (orange), UK news (grey), Business (blue), Arts (purple) and Sport (green). Alternatively, you can view the calendar full screen."
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